Template:Did you know nominations/Battle of Lewinsville

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 23:40, 9 September 2023 (UTC)

Battle of Lewinsville

5x expanded by Donner60 (talk). Self-nominated at 01:45, 27 June 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/Battle of Lewinsville; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

  • ALT I ... that Confederate commander J. E. B. Stuart prevented John S. Mosby, the "Gray Ghost", from shooting Union Army colonel Isaac Stevens at the Battle of Lewinsville? Source: Mosby, John S. The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Edited by Charles Wells Russell. ISBN 978-0-553-29650-1. First published by Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1917. p. 69; Jones, Virgil Carrington. Ranger Mosby. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944. ISBN 978-0-8078-0432-2. pp. 52-53.
    • ALT2 ... that after the Battle of Lewinsville John S. Mosby, the "Gray Ghost", wrote that he regretted "the glorious opportunity that I missed of winging their colonel"? Source: Mosby, John S. The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Edited by Charles Wells Russell. ISBN 978-0-553-29650-1. First published by Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1917. pp. 69-70. Donner60 (talk) 21:24, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
      • ALT3 ... that after the Battle of Lewinsville John S. Mosby wrote that he regretted "the glorious opportunity that I missed of winging their colonel"? Source: Mosby, John S. The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Edited by Charles Wells Russell. ISBN 978-0-553-29650-1. First published by Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1917. pp. 69-70. Donner60 (talk) 07:00, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
  • @Donner60: This is not a review but more of a comment, but can a different hook be proposed here? The significance/interest of the hook isn't clear if the reader is unfamiliar with the names involved. To non-history buffs, the hook doesn't really seem eyecatching, and I say this as a history buff myself. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 13:49, 14 July 2023 (UTC)
  • @Narutolovehinata5: I put an alternate hook above to identify Stuart as a Confederate commander (he wasn't yet a general) and Mosby as (the "Gray Ghost"), the later partisan commander well known as the Gray Ghost, which might increase interest. Much more or different on this specific hook would likely push it beyond the word limit. Unlike my last DYK which failed because the fivefold increase was not all within 7 days, I am not sure that I can come up with a curious looking hook which would not be a historical tidbit from an American Civil War battle. I might look at it again if this one were to be classified as fail. Donner60 (talk) 22:57, 14 July 2023 (UTC)
I don't think the above hook is much better. Also, per DYK guidelines, the parentheses should not be there as parentheses are only added to DYK hooks if they're absolutely necessary (like "(pictured)" or if they're part of the title). The article is quite dense so no other alternative hook angles came to my attention, but I'd suggest you try since I don't think this angle is working out. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 00:26, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
Changed parentheses to commas. I do think that the hook would now be interesting at least to many Americans and others interested in the American Civil War, but I will look at if further; otherwise, I suppose it will need to be assessed as is. Donner60 (talk) 09:42, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
I don't think ALT1 is much of an improvement. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 11:45, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
  • I just realized this has never been actually been given a proper review yet, so to make things clear, the article does meet DYK requirements (including 5x expansion, length, close paraphrasing) and a QPQ has been done. After almost a month since my last comment, I've had some time thinking about this and I still don't think ALT0 and ALT1 are appropriate. However, perhaps a hook about the "the glorious opportunity that I missed of winging their colonel" quote might work? Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 13:16, 19 August 2023 (UTC)
    • @Narutolovehinata5: Just seeing your suggestion now. Thanks for looking at this again. I think your suggestion is a good idea since it is a direct quote. Would ALT2 that I just placed above, or something very similar, work? Donner60 (talk) 21:24, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
As a compromise I think you could add a version that omits the "Gray Ghost" mention then I'll let the promoter decide if it's necessary or adds to the hook. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 02:02, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
@Narutolovehinata5: That works for me. I put it up as ALT3. Please proceed. Thanks. Donner60 (talk) 07:00, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
Okay, I'll leave it to the promoter on whether to use ALT2 or ALT3. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 05:15, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
Proposing a further tweak:
@Narutolovehinata5: Would you approve that as well? Cielquiparle (talk) 03:31, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
I'll leave it to the promoter. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 03:59, 4 September 2023 (UTC)